LEGISLATIVE 

REMINISCENCES 


MacINTYRE 




LEGISLATIVE REMINISCENCES 


W. IRWIN MacINTYRE 


Copyright by W. Irwin MacIntyre 
1909 



Ttmks-Enterprise Publishing Co., Printers, 
Thomasville, Georgia. 

1909 






• » 

ImSrary o7 CONGRESS f 
Two Conies Received I 

JUN 21^ 

Copyriifnt Entry 

a/, tQCQ 

CLASS >9 X,\' 

No. 1 







“The Prohibition Bill.” 


I AM undertaking to give a few side lights on the rough 
road of the "Georgia Prohibition Bill", two years after 
the passage thereof. 

The day before the senate bill came up for a second 
reading in the House, a lot of the boys went to Clarksville 
to the "Laying of the Corner Stone of the Ninth District 
Agricultural College"; as it was a free ride, I went along 
with the bunch. I don’t know who paid our way. When 
we got to Clarksville it was raining so that some of us 
didn’t get out to the College at all. Joe Hall and Seab 
Wright made speeches in the court house, and I rode 
down to the station with them. Seab told the crowd that 
he was in favor of better men and better women and a 
good government; and Joe Hall was in favor of low taxes, 
an economic administration and prosperity, Both orators 
loved the people, especially the country people and were 
applauded and their wisdom appreciated. On the way to 
the station Seab said that we had the best legislature we 
had ever had, and that Railroad Commissioners ought not 
to be elected by the people. Joe said we didn’t have any 
such thing, and that Railroad Commissioners should be 
elected by the people. When we got to the station, I was 
about to go over to Tallulah Falls and spend the night and 
get to Atlanta next morning, but Seab Wright pursuaded 
me that the train might be late, and there might be some 
danger in not having a quorum to read the prohibition bill 
the second time, so 1 started to Atlanta with him and as 
much of the crowd as did not go to Tallulah. 

When we got to Cornelia, we were told that the South- 


i 



ern train was an hour late, so we sat around the station on 
goods boxes, and began to whittle sticks and tell lies. In 
the meantime the Tallulah tram had pulled out, and we 
were notified that the train for Atlanta was two hours late. 
About bed time we were told the train was still later, and 
that all the rooms in the hotel were occupied. To make a 
long story short, we got to Atlanta next morning 
about an hour ahead of the crowd that spent the night at 
the Falls; all good and mad at the railroads, the Southern 
in particular. 

After patronizing the Tallulah Falls Railroad some of 
the boys wanted to enact a law that “All Cars Have Round 
Wheels”. 

The Prohibition Bill was read the second time. The 
morning the bill came up for passage, the Representatives 
from Chatham had a bill several hours long on the Clerk’s 
desk, affedting warehouses in some way. Everybody got 
tired, and some got mad, before the Clerk finished reading 
it. When he was through, Joe Boyd was recognized, and 
said: 

“Mr. Speaker; In order that there may be no mis¬ 
understanding, I move that the bill be re-read.” 

Seab Wright almost had a "Duck Fit", and Joe with¬ 
drew his motion. Ed Hines was recognized, and moved 
to re-consider the action of the House the previous day in 
passing the Bill, establishing the City Court of Harris Coun¬ 
ty. The Roll Call was asked for, and the Filibuster was on. 
Adam’s name, of Chatham, was called, and Barrow moved 
that the rules be suspended, and his colleague allowed 
twenty minutes to explain his vote. The Roll was called 
for on Barrow’s motion. In the meantime, Mr. Ellison, of 
Harris, couldn’t understand why they wanted to reconsider 
his bill; he was satisfied with it; his people were satisfied 
with it; and, it was a Local Bill, any way, and he didn’t 
want it re-considered; it had passed legally, and he wanted 
it to Stay passed. 

In explaining their votes, during the Filibuster, the 
various members discussed pretty much everything. Huff 


2 


of Lumpkin, was telling about the rippling brooks of the 
North Georgia mountains, when some one questioned the 
pertinency of his remarks: 

"I am explaining my vote by analogy", said the gentle¬ 
man from the mountains. 

Everybody with a taSte for liquor knows that the bill 
passed, and is being enforced; at leaSt in parts of the State. 



3 




“The Shaw Mosquito Bill.” 


D URING my second session in the Georgia legislature, 
the bill of Hon. Emmett R. Shaw, of Clay, requiring land¬ 
lords to furnish mosquito nets, came up for passage. The 
bill was introduced late, and would never have been 
reached in its regular order. This result of crowding the 
calendar is what gives the Speaker and Rules Committees 
such power in legislative bodies. If every fool bill was 
considered in its order, nothing would ever be done. So 
resolutions are introduced, asking that certain bills be set 
for special orders, which are referred to the Rules Com¬ 
mittee, which recommends certain dates for what it con¬ 
siders important legislation. Of course, the committee 
could be directed; but, in that case, every author of a bill 
would insist on directing the committee in his favor, so you 
judt have to follow the old usage, or never accomplish 
anything. 

In the case of the Shaw bill, the author considered it 
by far the modt important morsel of legislation pending, 
and had early asked, time and again, that it be set for a 
special order. So when other matters came up, with much 
larger numbers on the bills, Shaw concluded that he was 
the vidtim of a clique or ring; and every day would defy 
"The powers that be" on the floor of the house, telling 
them what the people really wanted, and what would hap¬ 
pen if truly Democratic practices were followed. He be¬ 
came so intense that he would threaten to interfere with a 
member s local legislation, unless he would commit himself 
to the "Skeeter" Bill. This together with the fadt that 
Shaw was a popular fellow whom everybody liked, caused 


nearly everybody to promise to vote "Aye" on its passage. 
But nobody thought it would ever come up. Finally, Shaw 
asked unanimous consent that his bill be taken up the la3t 
half hour of the morning session, without expecting success; 
but, as a surprise to everybody, no one objected. The 
time was short, but the author thought he had so many 
committed, that it would be "railroaded" right through. 
The Speaker asked Ben Hill, of Monroe, to preside during 
the consideration of the Shaw bill. Everything seemed 
serene. Shaw had his hands in his pockets, strutting up 
and down, in front of the clerk’s desk. The bill was read, 
and Shaw was in the ac5t of addressing the chair, when 
Persons asked recognition, and got it, 

"Mr. Speaker": said Persons, "I offer an amendment." 

"The Amendment will be sent to the Clerk’s desk; the 
Clerk will read the Amendment." 

Amendment by Mr. Pearsons, of Monroe: 

"That the following words be added to the la£ para¬ 
graph of said bill, to wit: 

"That this Bill shall not apply to any mosquito having 
a proboscis less than one-thirty-second of an inch long." 

The Amendment passed, amid Shaw’s shouts for 
recognition. Mr. ' Chamlee, of Floyd, then offered an 
amendment, requiring mosquitoes small enough to get 
through the net’s meshes to be yoked, which was agreed 
to. Glenn, of Whitfield then had a long amendment, pro¬ 
viding for the muzzling of bed-bugs, furnishing firearms 
and other means of defense to lodgers, that they might 
protect themselves against nocturnal pests and enemies. 
The Amendments all carried before Shaw got the floor, 
and made the point that they were all out of order; not 
being pertinent to the bill. Ben Hill, who, by this time, 
handled the gavel with the grace of a veteran, made a rul¬ 
ing which will, no doubt, be handed down to posterity as 
a precedent. His logical and analytical mind gave ex¬ 
pression to these masterful words: 

"The mosquito question is a very broad question, and 


5 


the Chair will not presume to decide what is pertinent or 
impertinent thereto.’ 1 

Just as a dangerous period of excitement was about to 
be encountered, the gavel fell, and the Chair announced 
that the hour of adjournment had arrived, and as another 
special order was set for the afternoon, the bill with all 
amendments, was lost. Everybody told Shaw that they 
didn’t consider voting for the amendments violative of 
their promise to vote for the bill on it’s final passage. But 
Shaw said they couldn’t fool him; they naturally wasn't for 
his bill. He accused Joe Hall of being against him, but Joe 
said he would have voted for the bill, if it had brought on 
a war. 

The bill was dead, and as Mr. Shaw's term expired, it 
will not come up again, unless it finds another champion. 



6 


‘'Rogers of McIntosh.” 


W H. ROGERS, of McIntosh County, was probably 
• the last negro who will ever serve in the Georgia 
Legislature. He has served several terms, and was re-eledt- 
ed for the 1908 House. His seat was contested by Mr. 
Atwood, a white man, and the hearing was before the 
Committee on Privileges and Elections, composed of: 

Charles Russell, Chairman; Joe Hill Hall, Seaborn 
Wright, Boykin Wright, Taylor, Candler, Perry, Covington, 
Jackson, Adams, Rountree, Wise, Young, Edwards, Mc¬ 
Mullen, Hill, Collum, Boyd, Brown (of Carroll), Atwater, 
Reid (of Macon), Heard and Tift. 

Judge Spencer R. Atkinson represented Atwood, and 
Judge Howard Van Epps represented Rogers. After a 
thorough hearing, the Committee reported unanimously 
that Rogers was elected. 

When the Committee had adjourned, Hon. Joe Hill 
Hall started to his hotel, and, meeting Rogers, said: 

"Well, Rogers, we decided to unseat you." Rogers 
replied: 

"Well, Mr. Hall, I have absolute confidence in that 
Committee, and if they say that I was not legally elected, I 
am satisfied that I was not." 

"No, Rogers, I was joking, we decided you were legally 
elected," replied the statesman from Bibb. 

"Well," said Rogers; "I want you gentlemen to under¬ 
stand that I never doubted but that I would have a fair 
hearing, and had your decision been otherwise, my mind 
would not have changed". 

When the report was received by the House, and a 


7 



"Viva Voce" vote was about to be taken, a Representative 
from my Congressional District came over to my seat and 
said: 

"Mack, 1 don’t doubt that this committee is correct un¬ 
der the law, and I am sworn to support the law, and I am 
going to vote to approve the report, but if ever I am asked 
about it down home, I want to prove by you that I said on 
the floor of this House that I am in favor of removing the 
cloud from the north-ea^t corner of this hall that the bright 
light of Anglo-Saxon supremacy may shine forth." 

Rogers never took much interest in pending legislation 
but on one occasion, a bill affedting the fishing rights of 
the coa£t counties was up, and Rogers, true to his indtindt, 
waxed eloquent in behalf of the fish eaters. He made a 
good speech, too, full of emphasis and feeling. 

When I returned home, after the 1907 session, I met 
Col. Theo. Titus, who said: 

"You are going to lose one of your brethren in the 
Legislature." 

1 was a little surprised, and asked; "Who? and why?" 

"Rogers," he replied. "I’ve ju.41 returned from Darien, 
and my negro boatman told me that the negroes of Mc¬ 
Intosh County were going to make Rogers resign for voting 
for prohibition." 

I told him: "Perhaps Rogers didn’t know how he 
was voting." 

Fie said; " That is what 1 would have thought, 
ordinarily, but the dum fool nigger, ’splained his vote and 
showed he knowed what he was doin’, and we’s goin’er 
put somebody else in his place, if us has to git de wub'l 
white man in McIntosh County." 

Shortly afterwards, Rogers resigned, and Honorable 
F. H. McFarland was eiedted, with Rogers’ support and 
co-operation. 

It might be pertinent to mention that when the white 
man came up to finish Rogers’ term, the colored Chairman 
of the McIntosh County Republican Executive Committee 
came along to serve as porter in the house. 


8 


One of the leading citizens of Darien once told me 
that he was asked to suggest a good colored man for Porft- 
magter. He went to Rogers and explained that the job 
would pay three times as much as his carpenter work. 
Rogers refused absolutely, because of incompetency and 
disinclination to draw a salary while acting as dummy. He 
said it would be an injustice to the government and to the 
white men, whom he would have to get to go on his bond. 
My informer offered to assist him in getting some young 
competent negro to take full charge of the office. He still 
refused, saying, he couldn’t accept at all and feel right 
about it. 

I never heard the propriety of Rogers' conduct ques¬ 
tioned while in the legislature. He was popular among 
his white associates; although all of them felt relieved when 
McIntosh County sent up a white man. 





“My Chattanooga Trip with the W. A. 

Committee.” 

D URING the 1907 session I went with the Western & 
Atlantic Railroad Committee to inspe<5t the State's 
property. You will recall that the State's road was built in 
pursuance of the Ac5t of 1836; that it received its fir$t 
money from operating in 1845; paid the first money into 
the state s treasury from net receipts of 1854-55; reached 
its zenith of success in the year of 1860 and *61, when it 
paid into the treasury $438,000.00; was interrupted by the 
civil war; was leased to the Joe Brown Corporation in 1870 
for $25,000.00 per month; was leased for thirty years in 
1890 at $420,000.00 per year to the N. C. & St. L. Ry. The 
road you remember originally ran from the Tennessee River 
to a point in the woods, afterwards called "Terminus", 
"Marthasville", and "Atlanta." During the Bulloch admin¬ 
istration, the right of way, with much valuable realty, be¬ 
tween where the station in Chattanooga now is and the 
river, was conveyed from the state, and is now occupied 
by several blocks of office buildings and store-houses. 

But I am not writing an essay on the "Western & At¬ 
lantic;" I’ll do that some other time. 

Chairman Hooper Alexander, notified our committee 
that we were to go, and invited several members not on 
the committee, but who were deeply interested in the 
state’s property, to go along; among them Honorable Em¬ 
mett R. Shaw, the popular and able representative from 
Clay. 

We got down to the old "Car Shed", and found that 
President Thomas, of the "N, C. & St. L." had three coaches 
hitched to a fancy little locomotive, which, we were told 


to 



this versatile railroad veteran had made with his own 
hands, in his younger days. The special was given us 
as agents of the owners of the road by the lessee, and we 
were told to 3top the train as often as we liked, to comment 
on any rotten cross-tie we might see. The situation was 
not without humor; here was a luxurious special train, 
equipped with every convenience, with the president of the 
road as host, carrying a lot of Crackers up to Chattanooga 
to inspedt property, the value of which they could not 
even comprehend. But when we got into that brewery, 
on our rounds in Chattanooga, men who had been too em¬ 
barrassed to have any ideas or suggestions about the condi¬ 
tion of our railroad, didn’t hesitate to say they were drink¬ 
ing the finest beer they had ever put to their lips. 

At Chattanooga the Mayor, officers, reporters and big 
dogs, were down to welcome and entertain us and inci¬ 
dentally to remind us, that they wished the State of Geor¬ 
gia would make some arrangement to move our switch 
yards out of the middle of their city, and convert the several 
acres to more valuable use. All of us agreed that it was 
an outrage for our 3tate to interfere with the growth of 
Chattanooga by using land, which would be worth millions 
to us if used for stores and office buildings, for switch 
yards, thereby putting a bunker in the middle of this en- 
prising town, which cuts off one-half from the other. Ar¬ 
rangements could easily be made with the lessee, by which 
Georgia could relieve Chattanooga, and have property in 
that city, which would bring rental enough to support our 
State Government, excepting the school fund, pensions 
and asylum. Or with the rent from the railroad, we would 
have income enough to take care of everything but the 
school fund and pensions. 

Just here I wish to call attention to the fact that three 
years ago we could have leased the ”W. & A.” for $60,000 
per month, said lease to begin at the expiration of the 
present, and run seventy-five years. So you see our Com¬ 
mittee had sense enough to at least come to the conclusion 


that our State had property worth many millions over and 
above our $7,000,000 indebtedness. 

At Chattanooga we all went up and spent the night on 
"Lookout Mountain"; or, most of us did. The next morn¬ 
ing, we got the papers, and saw what great men we were, 
and how proud Chattanooga was to have us. The papers 
gave the list of those present, as had been given to the re¬ 
porter by chairman Hooper Alexander, which was the of¬ 
ficial list, and didn't include those not on the committee, 
such as Honorable Emmett R. Shaw, of Clay. I noticed 
that Shaw was a little nervous, but didn’t know what his 
kick was. That afternoon, on our return, I noticed that the 
Statesman from Clay was very impatient to get an Atlanta 
Journal. He was afraid the Journal had made the same 
grievous error as The Chattanooga papers, and omitted his 
his name. 

Finally we met the late train and got the Journal, and 
Shaw’s eyes were almost devouring it. At last his counten¬ 
ance dropped, and he seemed sorely disappointed. Just 
then, Ralph Smith, genial Ralph, of the Atlanta Journal, 
came along, and Shaw said:- 

"Ralph, what you all got against me ;haven’t I been your 
friend? What you trying to do to me?" 

Ralph looked surprised, and asked for a bill of partic¬ 
ulars. Shaw replied very seriously: 

"Two days ago when I made arrangements to come on 
this trip, I took my pen in hand and notified my constit¬ 
uents, through the "Clay County Bugle", that the State’s in¬ 
terest demanded my going on the Chattanooga trip. This 
communication was put in as an editorial, and was not sup¬ 
posed to be inspired by me; so on yesterday, after getting 
my communication, my local paper announced with great - 
emphasis, that I had departed with the Committee, and that 
I, being along, no blunder would be made. Now, your 
Journal gets down there this afternoon, and don't say a word 
about my getting there, Why, them Crackers will think I 
fell off the train." 


12 


Some Experiences Wrth Colleague Stubbs. 


S I UBBS and I had both announced for the legislature, 
trusting implicitly in the stupidity of the people. 
You know Carlyle gave the population of England as 
"25,000,000, mostly fools:" we hoped the rule would hold 
good in 1 homas County. 

As there were several others in the race and only three 
to be elected, everybody had to do a little canvassing. 1 
went out to Jim Murdock s and asked if I could talk a little 
to him. He said I could when he got through cutting 
wood. I took up another axe and proceeded to show him 
how. I says, “You haven’t seen anything of Stubbs along 
here today, have you?" "Lord, yes," said Jim, "he’s back 
there milking my cow now." 

Another time Stubbs and I met at Coolidge. Stubbs 
beat me talking, but, as it was a warm day, I held my hat in 
my hand and got the reputation of being "a heap the 
perliteSt." 

Well, we were both elecfted and, when the time came, 
Started for Atlanta. The tickets were $7.25, so we decided 
to ride all the way. When we got to Albany and were in 
the a(5t of changing cars, someone uncoupled the air-brake 
and the noise made Stubbs drop the package containing 
his other shirt. Stubbs said, "Here I am, fifty miles from 
home, and I be dog if somebody aint whistling at me!" 
The porter asked if we wanted to take a sleeper, but I said 
I couldn’t sleep in the day time; Stubbs said neither could 
he, and besides he wanted to see the scenery. The news- 
butch came along with some of Dickeji^’^ovels, but Stubbs 
said he didn’t like Dickens, the print ^^sl^o fine. 



When we got nearly to Atlanta, Stubbs asked a drum¬ 
mer who ran the hotel up there. The drummer said "Mrs. 
Kimball". Stubbs said he believed he would rather Ctop 
at a boarding-house, because hotels have a horse rack in 
front of them and the stamping of the horses kept him 
awake. 

Well, we got to Atlanta and registered. The clerk 
asked if we wanted a room with a bath, but Stubbs said he 
wouldn’t need one, as he would only be there fifty days. 
The clerk gave us a room on the top floor and showed us 
the elevator. When we got out Stubbs said, "The durn 
thing juSt did Stop in time as we would have been half way 
to Heaven in five minutes more." 

We went to bed and slept till next morning, when 
Stubbs said the people shore did stay up late. I asked 
him how he knew ;he said the lights on the Streets were Still 
burning at midnight. Stubbs also thought the people up 
there were mighty far behind with their hauling. 

Stubbs dressed and asked me which way was the well. 
I told him to push the button twice and he would get ice 
water. He held the pitcher to the button and pushed, but 
couldn’t get a drop. 

Stubbs turned his cuffs and we went down to break¬ 
fast: and the waiter asked if we wanted any breakfast food. 
Stubbs said he shore did: he hadn't had any supper, and 
he wanted fried ham, fried eggs, coffee, pan cakes, corn 
muffins and biscuit; if there was any extras, he’d take them 
too. 

We went over to the capitol and started on our legis¬ 
lative career. I prepared a bill, "Making the rules of poker 
uniform throughout the 3tate, and allowing a man to open 
a 'jack-pot 1 on a pair of tens". This I thought necessary 
for the protection of innocent parties, but as Stubbs 
wouldn’t join me, I didn’t put it in. 

We had Lithia water to drink and electric fans to keep 
us cool. When^fche oratory would get so dense as to warm 
the water and cjo^t^fe* fans, then we’d go out into the 
smoking-room. Anorator isn’t much appreciated by a 

14 


hall full of other orators! We joined the smoking club and 
had to pay a dollar. Then we would wait for other suck¬ 
ers, to get other dollars! 

Well, we soon caught on and Stubbs is now a veteran 
in the art. He can go all over Atlanta by himself, day or 
night. He can order a meal at a restaurant without the bill- 
of-fare and knows all the drinks at the soda fountain. He 
knows all of the names of the players on the Atlanta base¬ 
ball team and can telephone to any number in the city. 
He is absolutely fortified against fakes and fakirs, and 
can t be fooled with near-beer, near-soup and near-pot- 
licker. We are both experienced statesman now. 



t »«'• 



4. 


I 5 


T HE anti-lease convict bill was pending in the Geor¬ 
gia Legislature, Honorable W. A. Covington was ad¬ 
dressing the house against the lease system. 

"Fell ow Members"; said he; "I have never been able 
to see the propriety in leasing a man, convicted of stealing 
a ride on a railroad train, to the man who stole the railroad; 
nor have I ever understood the exact justice of hiring out a 
man, convicted of beating his wife, to be punished by a man 
w'ho don’t live with his; nor do I think it fit and proper to 
hire out a nigger, convicted of crap-shooting, to be pun¬ 
ished by a professional poker player. No,Mr. Speaker; with 
the lights before me, I’m agin the lease system. 


C OVINGTON was hindering the concurrence of the 
House to an amendment to a local dispensary house 
bill. His attention was called to the fact that the bill had 
already passed the house, and only needed the slight 
amendment approved; and that no one had seriously op¬ 
posed the bill, when it was going through the House. 

"Ah, well;" said Covington; "The time to kill a snake is 
when you have a stick in your hand. 1 ’ 


C OVINGTON was explaining his vote on a motion to 
adjourn, and was talking so vigorously that he was 
about through before stopped by the gavel. 

n Mr. Speaker"; said he; "I didn’t know I was out of 
order; I take it all back;" thereby showing that he wanted to 
be fair in all things. 


C OVINGTON was making a speech in the Georgia 
legislature when Judge Perry suggested some infor¬ 
mation which the speaker afterwards quoted several times. 
Finally some one, doubting his correctness, asked him if he 
endorsed the figures. 


I 6 




"No" said he. "I got them from Judge Perry, and pass¬ 
ed them on without recourse." 

— •• •• 

• • “'*•'* "•»*’ 

MR. AUSTIN of Murray, was making an extended ora¬ 
tion in the Georgia house of representatives. A porter, 
thinking it was time he wanted water, came up with pitch¬ 
er in one hand and glass in the other, and waited by his 
side. Austin motioned for him to go, but the porter didn’t 
understand. Austin couldn’t $tand the annoyance any 
longer; so turning to the porter, he said: 

"Take it away; take it away; don’t you know it don’t 
take water to run a windmill?" 

The bill, requiring eledtric head-lights on locomo¬ 
tives, was pending. An amendment had been offered, ex¬ 
empting railroads of less than fifty miles length. Coving¬ 
ton was recognized, and said: 

"Mr. Speaker, I cannot endorse this amendment. 
Death under a dteam engine on a railroad forty-nine miles 
long, has all the terrors for me as one fifty-one miles long. 
I would "shake off this mortal coil" with the same degree 
of reluctance in either case." 

The amendment was lost. 


I WENT down to Milledgeville with the Committee on 
State Sanitarium. Ed. Hines was chairman, and he bought 
us all tickets at the State’s expense. This was in 1907, and 
nearly all members had quit riding on passes; although it 
was £till legal to receive them. My colleague, Stubbs, was 
along, and we went down to the old car shed together; 
neither of us being run over by a street car or other large 
vehicle. Hines showed us how to board the train, and 
what to do with our tickets. 

Stubbs and I took a seat in the smoking car, and in a 
little while we pulled out. I said it was fine, riding over 
the country like that looking after the State’s business. 
Stubbs said: "It s-h-o-w was." I told Stubbs that I had seen 


in the Con&itution that morning that a rural legislator had 
been injured by a street car, and I was afraid it was he. 
Stubbs said he thought it mu£t have been Jackson or Jones. 
About that time the negro porter came in and poured a 
little coal in the Stove, in the front of the car. Stubbs said: 

"Hold on there, Buck; don’t put any more coal on that 
fire; I’m riding so fast now I can hardly breathe." 

The conductor came around, but we wouldn’t give up 
our tickets until Ed. Hines said to. The conductor smiled 
but we told him we were the bosses of that railroad; in fact 
Joe Hall had said 30 the morning before. 

Toward night we got to Milledgeville, which had been 
the capitol of Georgia for a half century, and showed many 
signs of the paSt. We were driven out to the Asylum, and 
given a good supper. Stubbs called my attention to the 
facft that it wasn’t costing us anything, so we didn’t let up 
on eating. We were at the officers’ table, and fared well. 
Let me here remark, that while Georgia might be behind 
in some things, we have the second largest attendance at 
our lunatic asylum in the United States. In Georgia 
idiots, lunatics and epileptics are confined in the state 
sanitarium. 

That night the visiting committee was put in a row 
of single beds, in a kind of upstairs hall. We all left our 
valuables downstairs in the safe, although we were com¬ 
pletely protected from the lunatics. The next morning the 
committee started to getting up by daylight; and by seven 
o’clock all were downstairs. We went in to breakfast, and 
were given fruit. Pope, of Brooks, said it was fine, but he 
had never heard of having dessert for breakfast, and the 
very first thing at that. 

After breakfast I strolled out into the court, between 
the buildings, and saw several patients, who seemed to 
have the liberty of the grounds. One came up to me and 
asked my name, and if I had heard of his name, which he 
gave. As it was prominent in Georgia, I had heard his 
name, and knew several of its wearers. I asked where he 
was from. 


"Now”, saul he "1 hat is a secret, but I don’t mind 
telling you. I have always lived in Atlanta, but when I 
found out they were going to commit me, 1 figured that 1 
would be out in a year, and when I came home my 
reputation would be ruined; and if ever anyone wrote to 
Atlanta, asking if my credit was good, he would be told 
that I had served a term in the lunatic asylum. So I just 
"lit a rag,” and came right down here to Baldwin County, 
and was committed from here, and there ain’t a word on 
the record in Fulton County about my ever being sent to 
the asylum. I told him I knew several prominent mem¬ 
bers of his family, but believed he was the smartest. He 
said he thought so, too. 

A few minutes later I met another trusty, who was 
walking around unattended. I was told that when this fel¬ 
low came there, twenty years before, he was brought by 
his father and brother. The three were in the superinten¬ 
dent’s office, and questions were being asked about the 
new patient; his age, health, disposition, industry, etc. 

"Well,” said the doctor. "Has he ever had a lick on 
the head?” The father and brother thought a minute; and 
then, in unison, said: 

"Yes, a mule kicked him on the head when he was a 
boy, and he ain’t been right bright since. The new patient 
who had been quiet up to this time, spoke up, saying: 

"Yes, Doctor; and the same mule kicked the whole 
damn family." 

We now organized sub-committees, and proceeded to 
inspect the property. I went with two others and Dr. 
Jones to the ward nearest the railroad. We saw most of 
the patients, and found everything as clean and sanitary as 
could be. While walking down one of the corridors, a lit¬ 
tle old woman seemed to be slipping up behind us. I saw 
she had no weapon, and hesitated, to see what she wanted. 
She kept her eye on Dr. Jones, and when she thought he 
wasn’t looking, slipped up near me, with her arm extended. 
I reached out and took a note, and she dodged back. 1 he 
note read: 


"Gentlemen of the Committee: 

Something ought to be done at this institution. 

The Doctors and the nurses eat all the breast of the 
chicken, and the patients don’t get nothing but the wings 
and drumsticks." 

I gave the note to Dr. Jones, and we proceeded. 

We went to another building and were entertained by 
two men, whom some of us knew. One was a former 
prominent attorney, who talked perfectly sane, but who 
had lost his memory; the other was George Bell, who had 
been in the previous legislature; both appeared sane to a 
layman until their peculiar affliction was explained. In 
this building we were addressed by a brother of a promi¬ 
nent citizen, who claimed he was retained as a result of a 
plot. He sued out a writ of hctb< 2 as corpus before Ed. 
Hines, when Ed. was Ordinary of Baldwin County, 
but was retained at the institution. He was disgusted that 
Hines was chairman of our committee, and said he ex¬ 
pected no relief from us. He had been his own attorney in 
his previous suit, and had prepared another petition, which 
he read to us, quoting numerous authorities. We went to 
an upper floor, and were requested to listen to a very bright 
fellow, who asked us to the ward dining room; the attend¬ 
ing physician said we might go if we liked, so we went. 
We were comfortably seated around the little tables, and 
our demented friend began, in an apparently sane man¬ 
ner. 

"Gentlemen of the Committee: 

There is a matter which you should investigate for two 
different reasons. They have here some four thousand 
patients, of whom half are as sane as you, gentlemen, 
thus depriving innocent men of their liberty, and entailing 
unnecessary expense upon our State." 

At this point he was interrupted by a member of the 
committee, making the suggestion: 

"Mr. A., you need not go into that. You are mistaken. 
You just demonstrate to the officers and doctors that you 
are sane, and they will let you out." 


2o 


T His threw the lunatic oil his track, and he, in a very 
emphatic manner, replied: 

"My friend, can you demonstrate that you are sane? 

"I ll bet you can’t; if you try, I’ll bet you prove yourself 
insane in ten minutes. Why, gentlemen, if they had ever 
gotten Alexander the Great, Hannibal, Caesar, Columbus, 
Bonaparte, Tolstoi or Judge Bleckley in this institution,they 
would never have gotten out in the world. If they ever 
get you, gentlemen, in here, the chances are, all of you have 
enough eccentricities to keep you here the rest of your 
days." 

He then went on and gave some suggestions 
about treating insanity, made a seemingly scientific talk, 
and showed considerable information about medicine and 

the human anatomy. He stated that the surroundings 

* 

were depressing, and calculated to drive a sane man mad. 
We afterwards discovered that our talented friend had a 
screw loose, and was really very insane. 

We then went to the criminal ward, where are segre¬ 
gated unfortunates, who have committed crimes. Here I 
found a friend from my county, to whom I had to lie to 
get away. They were more strict with the criminals, and, 
considering associations, it was the most pitiable ward. 

We returned to the administration building, and met 
the rest of our committee. We had a session, and discuss¬ 
ed the institution. We considered all of the difficulties, and 
decided that as it only cost some thirty-four cents per 
capita, per day, to pay all expenses, that the institution was 
wonderfully well managed, and the most necessary of all 
our state institutions. Some of the patients did farm work, 
some laundry work, and some cooking. The colored 
wards were as clean and well attended as the white ones. 
There were colored nurses and attendants for the colored 
patients. 

That night the authorities permitted the harmless pa¬ 
tients to have a dance. We all attended. The musicians 
and everybody else, except a few doctors and nurses and 
ourselves, were patients. A handsoms young fellow came 


up to me, and asked if I were a patient or a member of the 
committee. When I answered, he apologized, saying that 
if I were a patient, he wanted me to meet some of the 
young ladies. He offered to present me anyway, and I’ve 
regretted ever since that I didn’t consent. The dance was 
the old fashioned "square dance," but I guess I could have 
gotten along, and learned a good deal about the social life 
of the insane. Several patients, who were off on various 
subjects, got so absorbed in the festivities that they forgot 
their troubles and seemed perfectly rational. One lawyer, 
who made speeches and prepared briefs all day long, 
seemed as well as anyone, but the next day he was hard at 
work on his old stunts. 

I sat around, talking to the on-lookers, and watching 
the performers. I found that all the patients had a con¬ 
tempt for their idiotic associates, and among the idiots the 
better looked down upon the worse. However, the idiots 
were the happiest and most contented of all the inmates. 
The boys seemed to be making love to the girls, and the 
girls were coquetting and shying behind their fans and act¬ 
ing just as silly as if they had good sense. 

The next morning we returned to Atlanta, confident 
that as far as it was possible for us to tell, the officers 
were doing their full duty. Our experience was inter¬ 
esting but depressing. All of us apprehend physical trou¬ 
ble, but none of us know how thankful we should be that 
we don’t have the worst of all suffering, insanity, or that we 
are in more danger of it than many other things we 
fear. 

While we were gone the House passed McMichael’s 
clean sheet bill, which we finally killed, after the Senate 
let it come back with a minor amendment. 


THE END. 


22 


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